Hearing could determine funding for state women's health program

The future of Texas Planned Parenthood’s state and federal funding to provide more than 40 percent of women’s health services under a state- and federally funded Women’s Health Program could come down to a court hearing Thursday in Austin.

Planned Parenthood of Lubbock is on standby to determine the future of the cancer screening, contraception and other women’s health services it, along with Planned Parenthood clinics across the state, provide to 50,000 women.

Tara Haskell, interim president and CEO of Lubbock’s Planned Parenthood, wouldn’t say if Lubbock’s clinic would disappear — as Abilene’s will Friday — after the state’s decision to defund Planned Parenthood as part of the $40-million-per-year-program.

“I don’t want to say what I’m anticipating without knowing how (the hearing) goes on Thursday,” she said, declining to elaborate and referring other questions to a written statement.

In her statement, Haskell referenced the state’s Nov. 1 announcement it would maintain funding for Planned Parenthood services beyond the Texas Health and Human Services Commission’s Nov. 1 goal to set up a new Women’s Health Program without funding for Planned Parenthood.

“Today’s announcement is an important victory for every woman who relies on the Women’s Health Program for basic, preventive health care,” Haskell said in her written statement. “Our doors remain open today and always to every Texas woman in need of affordable, high quality health care.”

Haskell wouldn’t comment on the future of Planned Parenthood in Lubbock.

“Obviously that’s our same goal, to still serve women in the community of Lubbock,” she said. “We have a contingency plan but I’m not going to put that in public until Thursday.”

Carla Holeva, CEO for Planned Parenthood of West Texas, which oversees the organization’s clinics in Midland/Odessa, San Angelo and Abilene, said her organization opted to close its Abilene clinic anticipating it would lose state and federal Medicaid funding as a result of a 2011 Texas legislature decision to exclude affiliates of abortion providers from the Women’s Health Program.

She said Planned Parenthood West Texas provides services for about 12,000 people as part of the program, though she did not have specific numbers for Abilene. Abilene clients are being referred to San Angelo — 90 miles away, Holeva said.

The federal government challenged the Texas legislature’s decision to exclude Planned Parenthood from the program, saying it would pull its 9-to-1 funding match for the Medicaid Women’s Health Program if the state disqualified Planned Parenthood, said Stephanie Goodman, a spokeswoman for the Health and Human Services Commission.

Goodwin said the federal government’s share of the upcoming fiscal year’s program budget is $36 million compared to Texas’ $4 million.

In the event the federal government drops its funding, the state has plans to set aside about $40 million to fund the program, including imposing a hiring freeze on Health and Human Services Commission administrative posts and increasing efforts to recover Medicaid funds lost to fraud or wasteful spending, she said.

On Oct. 25, the state commission announced it would seek to restore federal funding for the Women’s Health Program after a 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling gave Texas permission to remove abortion providers and their affiliates from the program, Goodwin said.

On Oct. 26, a Travis County district judge issued a temporary restraining order allowing Texas to continue Planned Parenthood funding in the program.

A court hearing is set for Thursday in Travis County, leaving uncertainty in how the health program will be funded and if Planned Parenthood will stay in the program.

Texas Planned Parenthood’s approximately 150 clinics are only a small fraction of the 3,200 providers currently providing service to 130,000 patients as part of the program.

But Planned Parenthood accounts for more than 40 percent of the case load, Goodwin said. The program serves women with low income and no insurance.

“We’ve been working really hard to increase our outreach to more providers in the state,” she said.

The state increased its number of providers to 3,200 — up about 500 from the beginning of the year, she said.

The state commission lists 138 providers participating in the Women’s Health Program within 30 miles of Lubbock, including Planned Parenthood.

Most of the providers are physicians at Covenant or University Medical Centers or through Lubbock’s Physician Network Services.

Spokespersons at Covenant and Physicians Network Services said it was unclear how removing Planned Parenthood from the program would impact their providers.

A spokesman for UMC did not return Avalanche-Journal phone calls requesting comment.

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This article interviews 2 leaders of Planned Parenthood, and nobody from any pro-life groups. This shows the AJ's liberal bias. They want to ignore the fact that Texas is removing funding from these groups because they kill defenseless babies. They also ignore the fact that Texas is trying to continue the women's health program, but Planned Parenthood is trying to shut it down if they cant participate. This shows that they care more about money than they do about women.

I am assuming you are refering to SJCs comments? So please show your high intilect and refute the arguments. I do not want my money spent on murder of the defenseless; there are appropriate times to consider abortion but as a contraceptive is not one of them.

The last statement I read from our Texas government was about the intention to continue the woman's health program, ....are you saying thats wrong?

I want to see Planned Parenthood OUT of Lubbock. They don't promote parenthood at all. They are pro-abortion, which makes their name a farce.

I hope they fail, and fail miserably, in Lubbock.

BTW. And this is WAY off subject. Where is an article on this site about how the criminals of the "Lubbock City Council" are wasting our tax money by spending it on themselves? I want to see that as the LEAD STORY on this site. Those thieves need to be fired TODAY. EVERY WORTHLESS ONE OF THEM. They are criminals, and we should refuse to pay property taxes until those leeches repay EVERY PENNY that they have stolen from us. That includes the mayor, with his fancy $1,200 throne. They had no right to use our hard-earned money for their "leisure".

Personally, I say we amass about 10,000 angry citizens and storm the council. Drag their sorry butts out into the street, strip them down to their drawers, and warn them not to come back again. It would set an example, and I guarantee that this type of corruption would never happen again.

But...this is Lubbock. Land of the sissies. The thievery will continue.